1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating and linearly controlling periodic bipolar drive signals to drive an electromechanical device, such as an electromechanical actuator system driven by a DC motor. A method for generating and linearly controlling periodic bipolar drive signals to drive such electromechanical devices is also described.
In the field of missile actuators which are used to move control surfaces or nozzles on missiles, electromechanical actuators have heretofore not been competitive with other types of actuators such as fluidic actuators (for more than 0.5 horsepower) because of the weight associated with the electronic controllers which are used to drive the electromechanical actuators. In general, electromechanical actuators require high power electronic controllers to meet the missile requirements. Typically, missile actuator systems and their associated electronics must be nuclear hardened. Heretofore, existing hardened electronic controllers have been low power types. The high power controllers are either too heavy, or are not adequately hardened to nuclear radiation. Because the electromechanical actuator is relatively light weight, availability of high powered, nuclear hardened, relatively light weight controllers to drive such electromechanical actuators would make the electromechanical actuator a competitive candidate for the typical missile application.